Netanyahu prevents Likud ministers commenting on settlements

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Likud ministers in his government not to make any comments on Israel’s illegal settlements across the occupied Palestinian territories until Barack Obama leaves the White House, Arabs48.com reported on Sunday. Speaking during his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also expressed his fear that the outgoing Obama might support a UN measure against the settlements.

The Israeli leader fears that the failure of the Knesset to approve a bill which legalises Israeli settlements built on private Palestinian lands retroactively, would lead the US president to use it as evidence against the Jew-only settlements at the international organisation. “We live in a sensitive diplomatic and political period,” Netanyahu told the ministers, “therefore, I ask you to act responsibly and deliver only responsible remarks.”

Sunday’s meeting ended with no agreement on the issue of the illegal settlement of Amona, near the West Bank city of Ramallah. The Israeli High Court has given an ultimatum for it to be evacuated by 25 December.

Israeli news website Ynet News reported that Netanyahu reached an agreement with Education Minister Naftali Bennett, the head of the Jewish Home party, regarding Amona. The two agreed to exclude clause 7 from the bill, to legalise the illegal settlement, before voting takes place.

Clause 7 stipulates that Amona will not be evacuated. This pushed a number of ministers to say that they will not support it. Netanyahu and Bennett accepted its exclusion from the bill. The prime minister, meanwhile, pledged to seek an extension of the evacuation ultimatum of up to one month.